Air India to be put-up for sale; Details to be issued soon

Union minister Jayant Sinha said on Friday that the government is expecting to finalise privatisation of debt-laden Airways- Air India by the end of this year. He also added that the winning bidder will be known till the end of June this year.

Air India would be put up for sale and private companies can acquire 51% of the stake in airline.

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation said the information memorandum for the proposed strategic disinvestment of Air India would be issued in the next few weeks. The memorandum would lay out details about various aspects, including what would be available for bidding, assets and how much stake the government would own, he told reporters here.

"We expect to have a winning bidder by the end of June and the legal closing of this transaction by end of this calendar year," Sinha said, adding that so far two formal expressions of interest have been received by the ministry.